“Africa is a bank when it comes to diseases. The beauty of the GCRF START grant is that it offers us the opportunity to deal with these challenges in Africa, while enabling international collaboration and access to amazing synchrotron facilities with world class results.”
Dr Ikechukwu Anthony Achilonu, Protein Structure-Function Research Unit (PSFRU), University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD’s) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) are major challenges threatening the world’s sustainability and development efforts across the spectrum of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, causing millions of deaths each year1. My name is Dr Ikechukwu Achilonu and I work in the PSFRU at the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, where I focus on rational design and discovery of new generation anthelminthic and anti-bacterial drug targets to tackle NTD’s and Nosocomial infections by ESKAPE2 pathogens.
Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand. ©Diamond Light Source
To design inhibitors to serve as potential drugs against these pathogens, high-resolution 3D protein structures are needed to test the ability of certain drugs to interact with and inhibit the properties of the proteins being studied. This is made possible with the GCRF START grant which provides us with access to state-of-the-art synchrotron techniques, equipment and expertise at the UK’s world class national synchrotron, Diamond Light Source (Diamond), enabling the X-ray diffraction from protein crystals generated in our research. The GCRF START grant is currently our only conduit to the UK to enable us to conduct these ultra-high-quality experiments.
My recent research success is solving the Schistosomiasis joponicum Glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzyme has been recently published and is a tribute to the value of collaborating with Diamond and GCRF START. The solved structure is among the crystal structures with the highest resolution in the global protein database for this enzyme with two different ligands. Of the authors, Dr Ramesh Pandian is a GCRF START postdoctoral fellow (Host: Prof. Yasian Sayed), and Dr Sylvia Fanucchi, Prof. Yasien Sayed, Prof. Heine W. Dirr, and I – Dr Ikechukwu Achilonu – are collaborators on the GCRF START grant.
The resulting publication emphasises the need to exploit the unique structural diversity between Schistosoma GST and other human GSTs for a rational approach to design new generation anthelminthics. This research, outlined later in this article, will pave the way for the next exciting step in the structural validation of druggable targets for this debilitating and life-threatening Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia), a NTD which infects large numbers of people across several countries each year4.
The extent of the challenge: NTD’s and ESKAPE pathogens
AMR is described by the World Health Organization5 as “one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today…compromising our ability to treat infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in health and medicine.”
NTD’s are a diverse group of communicable diseases caused by a variety of pathogens prevalent in tropical and subtropical conditions, such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasitic worms (helminths). More than a billion people in over 149 countries are impacted by NTD’s with huge costs to developing economies of billions of US dollars every year. My research on NTD’s focuses on Schistosoma and Wuchereria (Wuchereria is a human parasitic worm (Filariworm) that is the major cause of lymphatic filariasis) – both of which display AMR. Populations living in poverty, without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infectious vectors and domestic animals and livestock, are those worst affected by NTD’s6.
The six nosocomial ESKAPE pathogens that exhibit multidrug resistance and virulence are often acquired in health care settings like hospitals (Health Care Acquired Infection/HAI) and feature on the World Health Organization’s ‘Priority Pathogens list’7. The persistent use of antibiotics has provoked the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) bacteria, which can make even the most effective drugs ineffective. These bacteria have built-in abilities to find new ways to become resistant and can pass on genetic materials which enable other bacteria to become drug resistant. Like NTD’s, this situation is made worse by limited or non-existent infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes, combined with an inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and a weak hygiene infrastructure in health facilities, which make the burden of HAI several fold higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income ones.
World class results! Solving the Schistosomiasis japonicum GST enzyme
Over the past three years, I have been working on the Schistosoma GST enzyme, which is a protein that is involved in detoxification of foreign molecules in the Schistosome parasite that causes the disease Schistosomiasis/Bilharzia. This enzyme very critical to the survival of the parasite. If the enzyme is not functioning properly, the parasite cannot move from egg stage to lava stage. Therefore, if the enzyme could be effectively inhibited, one would have a drug against the parasite.
In my research, I used a molecule which is a natural product found in pomegranate juice called Ellagic Acid. One of my MSc. students, Ms Blessing Akumadu, carried out the study I had conceptualised, showing that this molecule can inhibit the activity of the Schistosoma GST by 66%. The concept was based on an earlier study that ellagic acid and its derivative inhibits Plasmodium GST (duly acknowledged in the forthcoming paper). To be more confident about making extrapolations from the structure of the Schistosoma japonicum GST enzyme, we needed to see that our wet lab results had meaning in 3D high resolution. Using the I038 and I04 beamlines at Diamond, we were able to solve the structure of the 26 kilodalton GST at 1.53 Å resolution and were amazed when we saw the results! We had achieved the highest resolution of any of the several variants of the Schistosoma japonicum GST in the global protein database!
What we observed is the Schistosoma 26 kilodalton GST enzyme (Sj26GST), which is a dimeric protein (it has two similar subunits joined together) with an interface where the subunits are joined. The unique thing about this protein is that the dimer interface can be exploited for drug interaction, unlike other GST’s in humans. The results have enabled us to see where the Ellagic Acid molecule (the potential drug) can bind to the protein. In this parasite we only have two classes of GSTs (in humans there are several) – the 26 kilodalton (kDa) GST and the 28 kDa GST. Having studied the 26 kDa GST, we are now currently working on the 28 kDa GST across the three species of the Schistosoma parasite that infect humans (mansoni, haematobium and japonicum) to see if the Ellagic Acid molecule can also inhibit the 28 kDa GST of the Schistosoma parasite.
The implications of these results mean we can go on and redesign this potential drug molecule because we can see the type of interaction this drug is making with the protein in the 3D images. The more the drug interacts, the stronger the binding. Therefore, we can start to redesign this drug for better binding so that the binding and the efficiency is improved beyond the 66% to maybe 75% or even to 99 % in order to completely shut down the activity of the enzyme at a very low amounts of the drug. Without the high-resolution 3D crystal structure solved using Diamond, we could not do this. We can now exploit this interaction by adding a bond here or a functional group there to improve the strength of the interaction and potency of the drug, and produce new high resolution structures until we have a drug that shuts down the enzyme and produces a new drug target to which the Schistosoma parasite is not resistant to.
The benefit of studying multiple NTD and ESKAPE pathogens simultaneously – the case of nicotinamide adenine transferase enzyme in klebsiella pneumonia and Enterococcus faecium.
In my experience, the techniques one applies to studying one protein can also be applied to the others, which is why I study a range of druggable proteins from several human NTD and ESKAPE pathogens simultaneously. For example, my students and I are examining the nicotinate-nucleotide adenylyltransferaseenzyme which is important in the redox metabolism in both klebsiella pneumonia and Enterococcus faecium. Klebsiella pneumonia is a Gram-negative bacterium resistant to multiple drugs and increasingly resistant to most available antibiotics (it has a thin cell wall surrounded by a protective cell membrane which makes it harder for antibodies to penetrate). In health care settings, patients who require devices like ventilators or intravenous catheters, and patients who are taking long courses of certain antibiotics are most at risk for Klebsiella infections.
The Gram-positive Enterococcus faecium is a human pathogen that causes nosocomial bacteremia, surgical wound infection, endocarditis, and urinary tract infections (it has thick cell walls but no outer membrane). Studying both simultaneously has led to us noticing that the Gram-negative function of the nicotinamide adenine transferase enzyme performs differently from the Gram-positive function of the same enzyme which is exciting because this enables us to infer structural and functional differences between this enzymes from different bacteria that are supposed to perform similar activities in these bacterial pathogens. This has serious implication in the design of a broad-spectrum antibiotics that will target this enzyme in different organisms.
The process of solving protein structures – systematic integration of multi-facted ‘new generation’ theoretical and empirical studies
The approaches we use in the research outlined above are multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary involving the integration of sophisticated ‘new generation’ theoretical and empirical studies and, as already indicated, a range of cutting-edge equipment. To design drugs against disease pathogens, the three-dimensional architecture of the druggable protein is needed. Druggable proteins are proteins that are key to the survival of the pathogen which enables it to replicate inside the human host, either intracellularly or extracellularly. In the case of bacteria, for example, they need to manufacture their own energy and without the enzyme (protein) that makes this possible, the bacteria would not survive. Therefore, if we know the protein’s DNA sequence, we should be able to predict that we can synthesis this protein and develop the druggable target.
To elucidate the crystal structure of these druggable proteins it is possible to use home X-ray sources. Ultimately, however, there is a major advantage of using a powerful synchrotron light source like Diamond over most home X-ray sources because the amount of inferences made from a protein crystal with resolutions in the range of 1.3 – 1.7 Å is unprecedented. Such crystals can be further studied using computational algorithms and can also serve as models for replacement when solving the crystal structure of a protein that is very similar in structure.
In order to generate the recombinant proteins that are druggable targets, we need large amounts of these proteins. For this we use E. coli bacteria like a factory to synthesize our target proteins and carry out a rigorous ‘quality assurance’ process to ensure the proteins we make are pure, stable and homogenous for successful crystallisation experiments. If the protein is an enzyme, it should be able to catalyze the same function it does naturally in an organism (in vivo), inside a test tube (in vitro), which means that whatever we send off to Diamond for X-ray diffraction experiments, we need to be sure that the biological function is intact. To do this, the proteins are assayed (measured) for catalytic activity in vitro (if they are enzymes) and are further characterised using several biophysical techniques to test their structure and the function to the point we are satisfied that the proteins are active, properly folded and can perform the function they are supposed to perform properly (biological activity is maintained).
We purify the proteins to homogeneity using an ensemble of protein chromatography techniques. For ‘quality assurance’, we check the secondary structure content (Far-UV circular dichroism), the tertiary structure (intrinsic and extrinsic fluorescence spectroscopy); and the quaternary structure (using size exclusion HPLC). Every physical interaction between two biomolecules generates heat or absorbs heat as part of the function of the protein to interact with another molecule (molecular recognition). Therefore, to estimate the thermodynamics of protein-ligand interaction (interaction ability), we use isothermal titration calorimetry.
Once we are satisfied that the proteins are of good quality and quantity, we begin protein crystallisation. I like to use the analogy that structural biologists are akin to photographers and using X-ray diffraction is like taking a snapshot of the protein which has been forced to assemble as repeating units in a crystalline form. There are several approaches we use. We can either conduct crystallisation manually, or we can do it robotically using our in-house Douglas Instrument Oryx 8 crystallography robot for high throughput protein crystallisation.
To solve the protein structure – sometimes in complex with potential drugs – X-ray light is invaluable. However, X-rays have very short wavelengths and if you keep bombarding a protein crystal with X-rays, it will heat it up and gradually fall apart because of X-ray damage. By changing the protein from solution to a crystal, and then embedding it in a liquid able to resist the intense bombardment of X-ray (cryo-protection) by freezing it at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (-196 degrees Celsius), the sample stays stable and the X-rays will last 100x longer in the X-ray beam! Our crystal samples are therefore sent to Diamond in special containers which keep the samples crystals frozen. GCRF START makes it very easy to ship our crystals to the UK without lots of red tape. We use DHL and we have an easy system which means it only takes a few days to get to Diamond ready for the experiments; the GCRF START grant helps this process at no cost to us.
We can use an X-ray diffractometer such as a small in-house diffractometer to solve the protein structure, or the ultimate technique for X-ray crystallography – a massive synchrotron like Diamond! Diamond’s I03 and I04 beamlines are used to fire X-rays onto our crystal samples. The X-ray will be scattered based on the structure of the protein/molecule (X-ray diffraction). Then, using mathematical modelling and other techniques, the 3D structure of the protein is resolved, either on its own or in a complex with a drug or other biomolecules such as DNA.
My theoretical (computational) studies involve several molecular modelling techniques to model the atomistic behaviour of our proteins of interest, especially how the dynamics of these proteins are altered upon drug binding. We also screen various in silico (virtual) libraries (including PubChem, ZINC and Drug Bank databases) for potential hits that we further extend to the theoretical studies, including high-throughput virtual screening, induced-fit ligand docking, molecular dynamic simulation and free binding energy calculations.
Sometimes, however, the process provides a few surprises, which was the case in our journey to solving the structure of the Schistosoma japonicum GST enzyme. We usually send our crystals to Diamond at the same time as the other groups in South Africa because we have the same slots for data collection. Two weeks before we were supposed to ship our crystals, we found that none were ready yet to ship. This wasn’t good. Therefore, to hurry things along, I asked one of my MSc students, Jessica Olfsen, who knows the crystallization robot very well to generate the crystals we needed within one week. This she did, but they were very ugly looking crystals! I did not think we would get any data out of these crystals but at least we had crystals to send. I so doubted their usefulness that when I collected the data, I didn’t even want to look at it, let alone solve the protein structure. In my disappointment I asked one of our new post-docs (Dr Pandian) who needed a task to look at it. The resulting 3D high resolution structure blew him away! When we both looked at it, we saw just how beautiful it was. I had written the paper already, but it had needed more experimental data for publishing so now I had it! The structure was solved at unprecedented resolution and the paper was accepted for publishing.
As a structural biologist, drug discovery and protein biochemistry are completely intertwined and multidisciplinary in the sense that I cannot do without a synthetic chemist (organic chemist). These are the people who will synthesize the drug. For example, once we add the extra functional groups, it will improve the binding capacity of the drug. The synthetic chemist will then go into the laboratory, resynthesize the drug before I will return to my lab and see if the inhibition improves. When an improvement in the inhibition is apparent, we go through the whole process again: recrystallize the protein with the proposed drug, and then use Diamond again to produce another high-resolution 3D structure of the re-modelled drug molecule and protein interaction.
“This whole drug discovery process can take some time, so it is vital that we have access to world class synchrotron facility like Diamond for the lifetime of this research we until we have the results needed to tackle the NTD’s and ESKAPE pathogens which impact countless lives.”
Dr Ikechukwu Anthony Achilonu, Protein Structure-Function Research Unit (PSFRU), University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Read more here about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
More about Dr Achilonu
Dr Ikechukwu Anthony Achilonu is Senior Researcher and the Interim South African Research Chair (NRF/SARChI) in Protein Biochemistry and Structural Biology at the Protein Structure-Function Research Unit (PSFRU), School of Molecular and Cell Biology, Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Achilonu+I&cauthor_id=30183110
Footnotes:
[1] Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – A/RES/70/1. New York, USA: United Nations; 2015.
[2] ESKAPE is an acronym for the group of bacteria, encompassing both Gram-positive and Gram-negative species, made up of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species.
[3] Authors: Blessing O. Akumadu, Ramesh Pandian, Jessica Olfsen, Roland Worth, Monare Thulo, Tshireletso Mentor, Sylvia Fanucchi, Yasien Sayed, Heini W. Dirr, Ikechukwu Achilonu. Title: Molecular basis of inhibition of Schistosoma japonicum glutathione transferase by ellagic acid: insights into biophysical and structural studies. Publication: Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology (2020);Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molbiopara.2020.111319
[4] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/schistosomiasis
[5] World Health Organization Global action plan on AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2015. https://www.who.int/antimicrobial-resistance/global-action-plan/en/
[6] https://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/resources/9789241515450/en/